Stock Market Soars Ahead Of RBI's April 7 Policy Review Meeting

Hindustan Times via Getty Images

NEW DELHI, INDIA - MARCH 22: Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information & Broadcasting, Arun Jaitley, Minister of State for Finance, Jayant Sinha, Governor of Reserve Bank of India, Shri Raghuram Rajan and other dignitaries during the 550th Central Board meeting of RBI, on March 22, 2015 in New Delhi, India. Scotching murmurs of differences between the government and the RBI over regulation of money market, Jaitley said there is no 'disconnect' between the two and hoped banks would follow the central bank in reducing interest rates. (Photo by Sushil Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

MUMBAI - Indian shares rose on Monday, marking their highest intraday level in about two weeks as traders churned positions in favour of defensive stocks especially among drug makers a day ahead of central bank's policy review.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries surged to a record high, leading gains in the CNX Pharma Index.

The Reserve Bank of India will most likely leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 7.50 percent at the April 7 policy meeting, but reduce it by 25 basis points by the end of June, a Reuters poll found.

"This churn in defensives will be short lived as at least a CRR cut should come, while a surprise rate cut cannot be ruled out," said G. Chokkalingam, founder of Equinomics, a Mumbai-based research and fund advisory firm.

Stocks so far have ignored concerns over U.S. and European investor groups calling for the Indian government to urgently clarify its tax regime for foreigners, following surprise attempts by tax inspectors to claw back money they say is owed on years of previously untaxed gains.

Pharmaceutical shares outperformed, with Sun Pharma gaining as much as 6.1 percent to hit an all-time high of 1,146.8 rupees.